Archives for FUBAR

The White House on Sunday confirmed the death of U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, a former soldier who tried to help wounded Syrians caught in a brutal civil war but ended up dying himself at the hands of Islamic State militants. President Barack Obama, in a statement issued as he flew back to Washington after a trip to the Asia Pacific region, said the group “revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction.” With Kassig’s death, IS has killed five Westerners it was holding. Britons David Haines, a former Air ForceRead More

The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation’s high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence. Titled “America’s Youngest Outcasts,” the report being issued Monday by the National Center on Family Homelessness calculates that nearly 2.5 million American children were homeless at some point in 2013. The number is based on the Department of Education’s latest count of 1.3 million homeless children in public schools, supplemented byRead More

Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, who says he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, played a role in some of the most consequential combat missions of the post-9/11 era, including three depicted in Hollywood movies. And now he’s telling the world about them. By doing so, O’Neill has almost certainly increased his earning power on the speaking circuit. He also may have put himself and his family at greater risk. And he has earned the enmity of some current and former SEALs by violating their code of silence. But O’Neill, winner of two Silver and five Bronze Stars,Read More

The U.S. government will launch a program in December to grant refugee status to some people under the age of 21 who live in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and whose parents legally reside in the United States. U.S. officials say parents can ask authorities free of charge for refugee status for their children in the Central American countries, which are plagued by poverty and vicious gang violence. The program does not apply to minors who have arrived in the U.S. illegally. Vice President Joe Biden announced the program Friday at the Inter-American Development Bank, where the presidents of theRead More

The Obama administration is considering a plan that would shield possibly around 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation as part of a broad set of executive actions that President Barack Obama could announce as early as next week, people familiar with the discussions say. Obama has pledged to move on the measures by year’s end, and White House officials are debating whether to act soon after he returns this weekend from his current trip to Asia and Australia or wait until after Congress approves a major spending bill in December. A senior Obama administration official saidRead More

Civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges says America today looks a lot like the world she helped break apart 54 years ago: A nation with segregated schools and racial tension. “You almost feel like you’re back in the ’60s,” said Bridges, who is now 60 years old. “The conversation across the country, and it doesn’t leave out New Orleans, is that schools are reverting back” to being segregated along racial lines, she said. “We all know that there are schools being segregated again.” On Nov. 14, 1960, Bridges — then 6 years old — became the first black student to attendRead More

Los Angeles police are increasingly relying on technology that not only tells patrol officers where crime is most likely to occur but also identifies and keeps track of ex-cons and other bad guys they believe are most likely to commit them. Police say the effort has already helped reduce crime in one of the city’s most notorious and historically gang-ridden neighborhoods. “This is a tremendous step forward. Without this, I couldn’t do my job,” said Capt. Ed Prokop, head of the Los Angeles Police Department division that watches over the grimly nicknamed “Shootin’ Newton” area. The program — part dataRead More

Don Blankenship joined a small club of executives when he was indicted on federal charges in the 2010 West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 people. The former Massey Energy CEO is accused of conspiring to violate safety and health standards at Upper Big Branch Mine, site of the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years. The explosion and investigation led to the overhaul of the way the federal government oversees mine safety. University of Virginia law professor Brandon L. Garrett has been tracking corporate prosecutions since 2001 and has written a book on the subject, “Too Big toRead More

A surgeon working in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and will be flown Saturday to the United States for treatment, officials from Sierra Leone and the United States said. Dr. Martin Salia is being taken to Omaha to be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center, Sierra Leone’s chief medical officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo, told The Associated Press on Friday. The U.S. Embassy in Freetown said Salia himself was paying for the expensive evacuation. A Sierra Leone citizen, the 44-year-old Salia lives in Maryland and is a permanent U.S. resident, according to a person in the United States withRead More

As the U.S. and China — the world’s top two polluting nations — turn to implementing new rules aimed at curbing climate change, the countries can look to the most populous U.S. state as an example of the costs and challenges of fighting global warming. California already has imposed some of the world’s toughest air quality standards as it moves aggressively to lower emissions. The state’s cap-and-trade program, launched nearly three years ago, offers one of the few real-world laboratories on how to reduce carbon emissions. The state has opted to impose extra costs on businesses that emit pollutants. NextRead More